Monday, June 04, 2007

1914 Children's Book With Katonah Poem Up For Sale on Ebay

The book is Grandma's Country Life Stories for the Children, by Mrs. Emmet Smith, put out by the Methodist Book Concern, New York, 1914. The first poem is titled Katonah, and it is a poem to that town.

Named from tribe, and Indian chieftain, In the Valley of the Croton, With its lakes and sparkling water, and its hills and towering summits, and its roadways, so inviting, With their flowering shrubs and grass plots, Such is beautiful Katonah.


Here is the ebay link auction ends June 7th.

About the Indian Chieftain:

Chief Katonah

Chief Katonah was a Native American tribal chief from whom the land of the town of Bedford, New York was purchased. The hamlet of Katonah, New York, located within Bedford, is named for him.

Chief Katonah lived in the area in the late seventeenth century. Records show that in 1680 he sold local land to settlers. Legend has it that he died of grief after his wife, Cantitoe, and their son were killed by lightning. Chief Katonah is said to be buried with his wife and son in Katonah Woods, off Rt. 22. The Chief, as the story is told, is said to be buried beneath a giant boulder, and his wife and son are buried beneath two smaller immediatley ajacent boulders. It is said that on a warm summers night, when the moon is full, you can hear the Chief and his family weeping for the land that the white man has abused and disgraced.

Source: Answers.com